following presentation, shares, warrants and rights are included. Annual data since 1935 are shown in appendix table 10. Comparative Over-The-Counter Statistics So far as can be ascertained from the standard securities manuals and from reports to the Commission, there were, as of December 31. 1962, about 4,458 stocks with 300 holders or more, of about 4,136 domestic companies, which were quoted only in the over-the-counter market. These stocks had an aggregate market value of about $90.1 billion, including $23.4 billion for bank stocks, $21.0 billion for insurance stocks, and $45.7 billion for industrial, utility, and other miscellaneous stocks. Registered investment companies are not included in this compilation. Ownership of over-the-counter stocks tends to be more concentrated in officers, directors, and other controlling persons than in the case of listed securities, and in some instances the concentration is heavy. Over-the-counter stocks referred to in the text, as of Dec. 31, 1962 These companies have other issues listed on stock exchanges. In addition to the stocks mentioned above, there is a large number of actively quoted stocks of companies so small as not to require continuous reporting to the Commission, and whose coverage by the standard securities manuals is generally limited to brief announcements of the circumstances of the offerings. Their number was in excess of 1,000 on December 31, 1962, at which time they constituted about 25 percent of the actively quoted stocks in the National Quotation Bureau services. These stocks may be presumed to have over 300 holders each. There is a further indeterminate number of stocks with over 300 holders, inactively quoted or not publicly quoted. So far as can be ascertained, these are for the most part stocks of small companies. A comprehensive view of the number of securities quoted over the counter at any one time is afforded by data supplied by the National Quotation Bureau, which is the principal purveyor of over-thecounter quotations in the United States. The following table shows the number of stocks quoted in the daily service and the corresponding aggregate number of dealer listings, as reported for a day around January 15th annually. • The number annually since 1925 is shown on p. 72 of our 26th Annual Report (1960). About half of the stocks show substantial concentration of dealer listings, including both bids and offers. Many of the remainder are quoted only on the bid side, indicating sporadic dealings. Some are listed on domestic or Canadian stock exchanges. Reporting Under Section 15(d) Issuers reporting pursuant to Section 15 (d) of the Exchange Act continue to increase in number notwithstanding numerous reductions occasioned by listings on the exchanges or absorption into other companies by purchase of assets or mergers. The number of such issuers increased from 2,435 on December 31, 1961, to 2,647 on December 31, 1962. The 2,647 reporting issuers included 1,887 having $34.7 billion aggregate market value of stocks. The remaining 760 issuers included partnerships, voting trusts duplicative of listed shares, stock purchase and employees savings plans, companies with only bonds in public. hands, registered investment companies, and numerous issuers for whose shares no quotation was available, including a considerable number registering in 1962 but not offering their shares until 1963. Issuers reporting under Section 15(d) as of December 31, 1962 • Includes only issuers with stocks for which quotations were available. These issuers had stocks with only unlisted trading privileges on exchanges. They also had 20 stocks aggregating $827,300,000 which were only over the counter, which amount has been included in the overthe-counter showing of market values above. Foreign Stocks Traded Over the Counter About 150 foreign stocks, or American shares representing foreign stocks, were so actively quoted in the American over-the-counter markets at the close of 1962, as to suggest the likelihood of active daily trading therein in the United States. In addition, there are many foreign stocks which are less actively quoted in the domestic over-thecounter markets. DELISTING OF SECURITIES FROM EXCHANGES Pursuant to Rule 12d2-2 (Rule 12d2-1(b) until amended February 15, 1963) under Section 12 (d) of the Securities Exchange Act, an exchange may apply to the Commission to strike securities or an issuer may apply to withdraw its securities from exchange listing and registration. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1963, the Commission granted applications to remove 68 stocks, representing 63 issuers, from listing and registration. Since 2 stocks were each delisted by two exchanges, there was a total of 70 removals. The removals were as follows: Applications filed by: New York Stock Exchange. Cincinnati Stock Exchange. Midwest Stock Exchange--- Pacific Coast Stock Exchange. Philadelphia-Baltimore-Washington Stock Exchange.. Pittsburgh Stock Exchange. San Francisco Mining Exchange..... Total... In accordance with the practice in recent years, practically all of the delisting applications were filed by exchanges. The single removal resulting from an issuer's application removed from the American Stock Exchange a Canadian stock whose principal exchange market was in Toronto. The considerable number of delistings by the American Stock Exchange and the Salt Lake Stock Exchange was a result of the adoption by those exchanges, during the 1962 fiscal year, of new rules and criteria for retention of listed status thereon.1 Delisting Proceedings Under Section 19(a) Section 19 (a) (2) authorizes the Commission to suspend for a period not exceeding 12 months, or to withdraw, the registration of a security on a national securities exchange if, in its opinion, such action is necessary or appropriate for the protection of investors and, after notice and opportunity for hearing, the Commission finds that the issuer of the security has failed to comply with any provision of the Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. The following table indicates the number of such proceedings with which the Commission was concerned during the 1963 fiscal year. Proceedings pending at the beginning of the fiscal year. Proceedings terminated during the fiscal year: By order withdrawing security from registration... Proceedings pending at the end of the fiscal year.. 2 1 3 2 Section 19 (a) (4) authorizes the Commission summarily to suspend trading in any registered security on a national securities exchange for a period not exceeding 10 days if, in its opinion, such action is necessary or appropriate for the protection of investors and the public interest so requires. During the 1963 fiscal year the Commission used this authority in three instances. One of these suspensions remained in effect at the end of the fiscal year. UNLISTED TRADING PRIVILEGES ON EXCHANGES Stocks with unlisted trading privileges on exchanges which are not also listed and registered on other exchanges continued to decline in number, from 187 on June 30, 1962, to 168 on June 30, 1963. The American Stock Exchange accounted for 17 of the 19 removals. The Pacific Coast Stock Exchange accounted for the balance of the removals, leaving only 2 stocks thereon in the strictly unlisted category. 1 See 28th Annual Report, p. 50. The distribution of unlisted stocks and share volumes therein among the exchanges is shown in Appendix Table 8 of this annual report. The reported volume of trading on the exchanges in stocks with only unlisted trading privileges for the calendar year 1962, was about 28,135,000 shares or about 1.7 percent of the total share volume on all the exchanges. About 90.5 percent of this volume was on the American Stock Exchange, 8.2 percent was on the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange, and 3 other exchanges contributed the remaining 1.3 percent. The share volume in these stocks represented about 7.6 percent of the total share volume on the American Stock Exchange and about 4.6 percent of that on the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange. Unlisted trading privileges on some exchanges in stocks listed and registered on other exchanges numbered 1,570 on June 30, 1963. The volume of unlisted trading in these stocks, for the calendar year 1962, was reported at about 49,252,000 shares. About 14.4 percent of this volume was on the American Stock Exchange in stocks listed on regional exchanges, and about 85.6 percent was on regional exchanges in stocks listed on the New York or American Stock Exchanges. While the 49,252,000 shares amounted to less than 3 percent of the total share volume on all the exchanges, they constituted substantial portions of the share volumes on the leading regional exchanges, reaching about 79 percent on Boston, 69 percent on PhiladelphiaBaltimore-Washington, 68 percent on Cincinnati, 59 percent on Detroit, 55 percent on Pittsburgh, 30 percent on Midwest, and 22 percent on Pacific Coast Stock Exchange. Applications for Unlisted Trading Privileges Applications by exchanges for unlisted trading privileges in stocks listed on other exchanges, made pursuant to Rule 12f-1 under Section 12(f) of the Securities Exchange Act, were granted by the Commission during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1963, as follows: BLOCK DISTRIBUTIONS REPORTED BY EXCHANGES The usual method of distributing blocks of listed securities considered too large for the auction market on the floor of an exchange is to resort to "secondary distributions" over the counter after the close of exchange trading. |